A perspective from the seacoast New England City of Newburyport, Massachusetts

Landfill Agreement, Newburyport, MA — It Stinks

I was very glad to read in the Newburyport Daily News, September 19, 2006 that Mayor John Moak and the Newburyport City Council are as upset about the state’s agreement with New Ventures LLC, (the owner of the Crow Lane Landfill) as residents are.

City Councilor Barry Connell is quoted as saying “The deal the DEP laid out was to have a criminal pollutant bring more pollutants into our landfill…”

There will be a meeting with the City Council, the Mayor and the City Attorney to try and figure out how to help the citizens of Newburyport, MA.

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Attorney General’s Office (AG) would like to resolve the Crow Lane Landfill issue without a court battle. However, that solution is obviously unacceptable to the citizens of Newburyport, MA.

The DEP and the AG would allow New Ventures to resume dumping construction and demolition debris at the landfill, the very debris that is a cause of the toxic odors in the first place.

So this is what I would like to see–as much media attention on this ridiculous fiasco as possible.

I would like to see Channels 4, 5, 6 and 7 camped in the Crow Lane Landfill neighborhood. I would like to see the residents telling their heartbreaking stories on television as well as to other major media outlets.

It is one way to force the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and New Ventures LLC to do right by the citizens of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

This is as important as any other disaster. The residents of Newburyport, MA have been and still are going through hell.